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The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), a group affiliated with the Ministry of Health, began monitoring the spread of the virus before its confirmation in Ireland. According to The Irish Times, this team was established on January 27, 2020, to deal with COVID-19. NPHET continued to meet after the virus arrived in Ireland to coordinate the national response to the pandemic.

The Expert Advisory Group on COVID-19, a sub-group of NPHET led by Dr. Siobhan Caffrey, Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory and based at University College Dublin (UCD), met for the first time on February 5 in Dublin.

Timeline

Containment Phase: February to March 12, 2020

On February 29, a confirmed case was announced in Ireland, with the patient coming from eastern Ireland, who had traveled from northern Italy. Authorities closed a secondary school related to the case as a precaution. The state did not name the affected school, but shortly after, Irish Examiner daily national political editor Daniel McConnell shared a copy of the message sent to parents informing them that the school was being closed.

On March 3, another confirmed case was announced in eastern Ireland, coming from northern Italy and unrelated to the first case. On March 4, four more cases were confirmed, two females and two males in western Ireland who had been in northern Italy, bringing the total number of cases to six.

On March 5, seven more cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of cases to 13. Four of these cases were related to travel from northern Italy (four males from eastern Ireland) and one was linked to Trinity College Dublin. Two of the seven cases resulted from close contact with a confirmed case (two females in western Ireland). One male case from southern Ireland had not traveled outside.

On March 6, reports stated that 60 staff members at University College Cork Hospital were forced into self-isolation after a COVID-19 infection was detected in the hospital. On the same day, five more cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of cases to 18.

On March 7, another case was confirmed, bringing the total number of cases to 19. On March 8, two additional cases were reported, bringing the total number of cases to 21. On March 9, three more cases were reported, bringing the total number of cases to 24. Ten more cases were confirmed on March 10, bringing the total number of cases to 34.

On March 11, Ireland's first COVID-19 death was announced in a patient at Naas General Hospital in County Kildare (southwest of Dublin), and nine new cases were reported. The total number of cases became 43. University College Cork Hospital discharged a previously admitted patient who had fully recovered from the virus.

Slowing Spread Phase: March 12-27, 2020

On March 12, 27 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of cases to 70. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced that all schools and colleges would be closed until March 29 in response to the increasing number of cases. This announcement came a day after the World Health Organization officially declared the outbreak a pandemic, and it marked Ireland's transition from containment phase to slowing spread phase in its strategy against the virus (a strategy that Taoiseach Varadkar had reaffirmed just three days earlier).